VERIFY: No, Alabama is not currently going to be touched by Hurricane Dorian

In multiple recent statements, President Trump said that Dorian's new path would put Alabama at risk of damage. That's not true.

Author:
Jason Puckett

Published:
1:53 PM EDT September 2, 2019

Updated:
1:54 PM EDT September 2, 2019

President Donald Trump has made several statements in a few recent meetings about Hurricane Dorian that aren't true. VERIFY has reached out to the White House for clarification on the President's statements. Here's what we've Verified so far:

DORIAN COULD HIT ALABAMA

Trump has both tweeted and spoken to reporters saying Alabama would be one of the additional states that could be impacted by Hurricane Dorian.

“In addition to Florida - South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated," he said in a tweet. "Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!"

“The original course was dead into Florida. Now it seems to be going up toward South Carolina, toward North Carolina. Georgia’s going to be hit. Alabama’s going to get a piece of it, it looks like," he also said to reporters.

While the President is correct that Dorian's path has changed and will threaten additional areas including the Carolinas and Georgia, the claim that Alabama is at risk is currently false.

President Trump is alone so far in bringing up Alabama. Neither our local meteorologists' nor the National Hurricane Center's forecasts put Dorian near Alabama.

The National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama also commented on this, tweeting that "Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian."

TRUMP HAS NEVER SEEN A CAT 5 HURRICANE

While speaking to reporters at FEMA headquarters, Sunday, Trump told reporters that he'd never heard of a category 5 Hurricane.

The exact quote was: “I’m not sure that I’ve ever even heard of a category 5. I knew it existed and I’ve seen some category 4′s. You don’t even see them that much. But a category 5 is something that I don’t know that I’ve ever even heard the term other than I know it’s there.”

We're ruling this claim as False. It's possible that Trump misspoke, but he hasn't offered clarification. This is actually the fourth category 5 Hurricane to appear and impact parts of the U.S. in his first term.

Trump made similar claims about CAT 5 hurricanes during Irma in 2017.

In total, Trump was in office through Dorian in 2019, Michael in 2018 and both Irma and Maria in 2017. All four were rated CAT 5 at their peak.

Numbers show that Trump has actually seen more CAT 5 hurricanes during his first term than any other president in history.

For comparison, George W. Bush had eight such hurricanes in his two terms. There was a three way tie between Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan with only one hurricane during their terms in office.